Matthew Hatton headed into retirement earlier today after a career that saw him win and defend the EBU welterweight title, vie for Commonwealth and world honours, and he also came close to netting an IBO title win when drawing with Lovemore Ndou in November 2009. Hatton, 43-7-2 (17), challenged Chris Van Heerden for the South African’s IBO belt in March — losing by scores of 110-118, 112-117 and 112-116 — and has decided to resist the temptation to return to the ring for another title run.
“The one thing that I always wanted out of my career was the chance to say that I was a world champion,” said Hatton when announcing his retirement. “After the loss to Van Heerden, I thought about retiring straightaway because I genuinely believe that I should have been able to beat a fighter of that standard. That’s not me being disrespectful to Chris because he is a good fighter but I just think to be at the level I believed I could be at, I had to be beating fighters of Chris’ calibre.”
Hatton picked up an eye injury during the run up to the bout, the surgery required to repair the nerve damage would have ruled him out for a further eighth months and this delay, coupled with his family commitments, prompted the 32-year-old to make the difficult decision to walk away from the sport. [Click Here To Read More]
“The one thing that I always wanted out of my career was the chance to say that I was a world champion,” said Hatton when announcing his retirement. “After the loss to Van Heerden, I thought about retiring straightaway because I genuinely believe that I should have been able to beat a fighter of that standard. That’s not me being disrespectful to Chris because he is a good fighter but I just think to be at the level I believed I could be at, I had to be beating fighters of Chris’ calibre.”
Hatton picked up an eye injury during the run up to the bout, the surgery required to repair the nerve damage would have ruled him out for a further eighth months and this delay, coupled with his family commitments, prompted the 32-year-old to make the difficult decision to walk away from the sport. [Click Here To Read More]
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